Saturday, February 11, 2012

Smoky Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas

Almost everyone appreciates a quesadilla. They're always quick and comforting, and here, the addition of smoke from the grill makes this old favorite taste even better. 


Smoky Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas 
(serves 4)

1 medium sweet onion (halved, skin left on)
2 whole portabella mushroom caps (stems removed)
1 green pepper (halved, seeds removed)
1 whole poblano pepper
1 tbsp. ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper (to taste)
4-6 whole-wheat tortillas
2 to 3 cups oaxoca cheese (shredded)
Hot sauce (like Valentina Black)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 limes (quartered)

Light the outdoor  grill and leave it on high to preheat. Place the poblano pepper on the grill. Once one side is burned black, turn it and burn the other side. Once the poblano pepper is completely charred, place it in a paper bag to cool. 

In a large bowl, toss the other vegetables, ancho chili powder, and two tablespoons of olive oil together until the vegetables are coated. Place the mushrooms gill-side-down on the grill. Place onions and peppers skin-side-down on the grill. The green peppers will be done first because they’re thin. Remove them from the grill once you get some nice grill marks on them. This should take about 4-6 minutes. Turn the mushroom over after 4 minutes. Allow the onion’s skin to burn black. (You will peel it later.) Move the mushroom to indirect heat. Allow the mushroom to cook until tender, which should take about 10-15 minutes. Once all vegetables have been removed from the grill and are cool enough to handle, you can begin to prepare them for the quesadilla. Remove burnt skin and seeds from the poblano. Remove burnt onion’s skin. Slice all vegetable into long, thin strips. Portion vegetables onto half of each tortilla. Cover vegetables with shredded cheese and fold the tortilla. Grill dry tortillas until they are nicely marked by the grill grates and the cheese has melted. Serve with hot sauce, sour cream, and limes.

2 comments:

  1. I will make it this week.....possibly this weekend. Either way, it will get done before your deadline.

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  2. Sorry it took so long but I made this over the weekend and I will say it has to be one of my favourite quesadilla recipes. Most the of the others I have made have relied on the cheese to provide the flavour punch but not these ones. I will be making these at the cottage this summer. This worked out really well so I don't have too many comment but:

    1. Ingredient list calls for "salt and pepper to taste" but not in the instructions. I am pretty sure that it would go in with the chili powder and olive oil but it didn't say.

    2. Regarding grill temperature. It starts on high but it doesn't say what it should be on for the rest of cooking. Should it still be on high when I put the tortillas on? Etc. I turned it down to a medium-low just to melt the cheese without burning the tortillas and it worked well for me. Kept the lid down to trap the heat (which was necessary as it was -12C outside)

    3. I guess three is a two part comment, what size tortillas and should I have flipped them on the grill. I did and it turned out really nice but I don't know if it was needed.

    That is it. They were great and turned out fantastic. If there are any recipes not picked up by next weekend I might do another, if that is ok with you.

    Keep it up!

    Taylor

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